It was reported earlier this year that The Expendables 3 had leaked online in high definition quality, just weeks before its release. Many have stated that this one of the reasons why it performed so badly at the box office, outside of the negative reviews.
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Two British men have been arrested for stealing the movie, supposedly from a Cloud based system before uploading it to the Internet. Both men, from the North of England, have been questioned and are currently on bail until May 2015.
The Expendables 3 had a reported budget of $90 million, but only made under $40 million domestically. Thankfully the film performed well overseas, bringing the movie’s worldwide total to $206 million.
Detective Chief Inspector Danny Medlycott, who heads up City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit, said: “Today’s operation shows you the significant impact intellectual property crime has on our creative industries, with millions of pounds being lost as a result of criminal actions. The public need to be aware that piracy is not a victimless crime. By downloading illegal music, film, TV and books, not only are you exposing your own computer to the risk of viruses and malware, but you are also putting hardworking people’s livelihoods at risk as piracy threatens the security of thousands of jobs in the UK’s creative industries.”
Originally published November 25, 2014. Updated October 24, 2022.
